AMS 105- American West: Images and Identities

 

II. Historical Realities and the Changing American West

A. Native Americans

    Native Americans include Yupik, Inuit, Aleut and American Indians. The Yupik, Inuit and Aleut are the Native peoples of the Far North to include much of Alaska. Although the course deals mostly with the last 500 years of history of the American West, the greater history is 10-20,000 years of experience shared by Native Americans. Much of their experience is expressed in myths and the material evidence from archaeological sites. In the lower 48 all Native Americans are referred to as American Indians. In the geographic areas of the American West, American Indians changed their lifestyles and cultures in response to increased aridity of post-Pleistocene (Ice Age) ecosystems.  Much of the American West was utilized by hunting and gathering peoples, but by 4,000 BP, CBS (corn, beans & squash) farming made its way into the Southwest and later into the Plains. Thus, American Indians differed due to subsistence and cultures relative to the different  sub-regions of the American West

Region

Environment

Subsistence

Southwest

Volcanic soils, desert w/ juniper scrub/creosote scrub, and saguaro cactus H&G, 2,000 BP>CBS (corn/maize, beans, & squash) agriculture

Plains

gamma/buffalo grasslands, rivers

H&G, AD 500>CBS,

>AD 1650 B-H (Buffalo-Horse) Complex

Far West: Northwest Coast

Temperate rainforest, cedar & fir, riverine, maritime

H&G; salmon, shellfish, game, roots/berries

Plateau

Semi-arid plateau, riverine

H&G; camus bulb, salmon;

>AD 1750 B-H Complex

California

Temperate rainforest, riparian oak, coastal scrub, creosote scrub H&G; seeds, acorns, game, shellfish, salmon; desert areas pine nuts/mesquite bean

Great Basin

Alkaline desert basin, creosote, saltbush, juniper scrub, pinyon pine

H&G; pine nuts, seeds, jackrabbit/antelope

Southwest:

     In the Southwest people farmed the deserts and produced CBS varieties with other unique plants we still use today, like the sunflower. The Pueblos (named by the Spanish) built ancient stone multileveled complexes like Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, NM. After a tremendous draught in the people rebuilt. Today, Acoma (Sky City) and Old Oraibi are considered some of the oldest continually inhabited settlements on the North American continent (AD 1000). The Pimans (O’otam) built irrigation works in and around the Phoenix area to bring water to low desert lands in the Gila and Salt River valleys.

     The Yumans utilized the Colorado River flood plains to bring water to CBS gardens. Most people associated the Navajo and Apache as indigenous desert people; however, they came from the Subarctic to the Southwest less than a thousand years ago. They too adapted well to the desert environments.

The Plains:

     When Lewis & Clark explored the upper Missouri River country in 1804, a major shift in power was occuring  in the Plains. European influences especially disease, had already set into motion a major demographic shift with the decimation of American Indian populations by epidemics from 1795. Most of the Plains people had been farmers (CBS) for more than 1000 years. For farmers like the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara a sedentary lifestyle resulted in population losses of over 50% with smallpox and cholera epidemics, in multiple waves. Newly arrived tribes from the Great Lakes like the Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, Nakota) and Cheyenne had given up farming in the Plains and acquired horses (originally brought by the Spanish) to hunt the great bison herds. When Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1804-05 with the farming people on the Upper Missouri stories of great epidemics abounded. The Mandan were friendly in spite of the European intrusions and helped the Lewis & Clark party get through a rough winter. That was the winter when Sacagawea, a sixteen year old Shoshone woman (wife of trader J. Charbonneau) went through a difficult birth of her son Jean Baptiste. With young Jean Baptiste (nicknamed 'Pomp") she helped the party over the Rocky Mountains. Earlier the Lewis & Clark expedition had tense moments when they encountered Black Buffalo of the Brule (Lakota group) and barely avoided bloodshed. The Brule and other Lakota bands were increasing in power and had avoided the severest epidemic outbreaks.

      By the middle of the 19th century the Sioux (Lakota/Nakota) would grow from 12,000 to 40,000. Cheyenne and Arapaho would form alliances with the Lakota and became formidable enemies to expanding settlers and the U.S. Army. A similar pattern developed with the Comanche and Kiowa of the Southern Plains as they acquired many horses and remained pastoralists, thus also avoiding epidemics in the S. Plains.

     Since these groups were powerful and fought to keep their lifestyle by hunting bison, they became the primary image of Plains people and American Indians in general. Throughout most of the world the Plains people fulfill most people’s imagination of what an American Indian is. Conflict in the American West was also portrayed as Plains Indians fighting cowboys. This never happened since the cowboy and their cattle replaced the Plains Indians and bison after the Indian Wars

Far West:

    The Far West consists of four American Indian culture areas, the Northwest Coast, Plateau, California, and the Great Basin. American Indians subsisted by hunting and gathering in all these regions, but depended on different staple foods in each. Although, there is great aridity in much of these regions, as one approached the West Coast  there was a belt of temperate rainforest due to the offshore climate effects from the Pacific Ocean.

     The Northwest Coast is located in a temperate rainforest that provided many wild plants and  great cedars that were used for houses, boxes, canoes, textiles, masks, and totem poles. The Pacific Coast and the Rivers were teaming with salmon, shellfish, fish, and other sources of food. As a result the Northwest Coast people were materialistically well off and sedentary.

     The Plateau  was an intermountain area like the Basin. However, it had seven species of salmon running at different times through the Cascade Mountains into the Rocky Mountains western slope, which along with the camas bulb and game provided considerable resources. After 1750, the horse was used by some of the Plateau people who bred horses, like the Appaloosa, to cross over the Rocky Mountains to hunt bison in the summer. Rather than stay in the Plains, the Plateau people like the Yakima and Nez Perce returned to their fishing weirs in the fall for more salmon runs.

     California had greatest variety of resources with the great redwood/sequoia trees and many species of oak. The California Indian people in turn used the oak trees’ acorns as a staple. Acorns had to be leached like olives, but were rich sources of oil and protein. Salmon, shellfish, fish, game and many other seeds served as additional food resources. Like the Northwest Coast, California's abundance resulted in a sedentary lifestyle and  a dense American Indian population. One of the richest coastal California groups were the Chumash along the Santa Barbara coast and Channel Islands. The Chumash became maritime and developed a unique canoe (Tomol) for deep sea fishing.

     The Basin was also intermountain, but it did not have rivers connecting to the Pacific Ocean, thus no salmon. The Basin is a high desert and the least favorable of the Far West areas for subsistence. The soil is alkaline and was not good for CBS farming, which was tried by prehistoric cultures. The people that stayed in the Basin utilized pine nuts as a staple food and hunted jackrabbits or antelopes in huge summer drives. It took 15 square miles to support one human in the Basin and so its population was the least dense in the entire Far West.

     The persistence of American Indians of the American West and their survival as sovereign bands, tribes, or nations was a surprise to non-Indians. The non-Indian immigrants, mostly European Americans that dominated U.S. policy saw American Indians and American Indian culture as inferior and impeding progress. Those American Indians that did not die in early epidemics or battles were placed on wretched reservations to die of neglect. The American Indians of the Eastern Woodlands had been removed in 1830 to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and effectively became part of the West. Once the Indian Territory had been filled with both Eastern and Western tribes, new reservations were created in the rest of Western Territory. Imagery of American Indians tended to be limited to the Plains Indian culture due to Wild West Shows and film.  Today's Pow Wow Dances have become a Pan-Indian phenomena that continues the stereotype, but functions as a cultural survival for American Indian participants.

     At the end of the 19th century American Indian populations left in the American West were reduced to below 100,000 and recovered to 2 million by 2000 U.S. population census. Today, the largest reservations are in the West and American Indians have gained considerable power with new legislation (Gaming and NAGPRA). The Western Indian Reservations are on 40-60% of the nation’s fossil fuels and uranium. Corporate America and the U.S. government have attempted to steal as much resources from American Indians through various schemes legal and illegal.

     Gaming has probably, brought more attention than any other recent American Indian issue. The sheer volume of revenue to Indian communities and non-Indian communities has made the presence of America’s first people known to more Americans since the Indian Wars of the post Civil War era. The gaming revenue has allowed for cultural revitalization, language recovery and preservation of culture.

B. European Colonial Frontiers 1519-1840

    As we have seen American Indians were the first people and first westerners of the American West. When Europeans came to what they called the ‘New World’, they saw it as their right or ‘Manifest Destiny’, to conquer the land and displace the American Indian. To help justify conquest, Europeans perceived American Indians and their cultures as inferior, and unworthy; often mentally rendering them invisible. American Indian discovery of America was also ignored so as to put into effect the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ which was initiated by the Spanish. Thus you will see false statements like ‘Columbus discovered America’, even though it is not clear he new where he was. So as immigrants, some by choice and others by force, made their way to the American West from Europe, Africa, Asia and Pacific Islands tended to ignore American Indian and their many contributions. Most policy and influence came from Europeans and a dominant English influence. American language, measurement, science, technology were mostly derived from English influences. Most Western States were surveyed with an English system, while only Texas and Louisiana retained French or Spanish survey systems. However, the natural environment was often the greatest barrier to settlement in the American West as we have noted with Prescott’s thesis.

     The Spanish, English, French and Russians were the first foreigners to invade the American West and they came from all directions. Early probes were for quick discovery of fame and wealth. Often navigation and mapping was all that was accomplished. Some took the wealth and left, while others stayed to settle.

     The Spanish were the first to expand into ‘New Spain’ from Mexico to the Southwest (New Mexico) and Lower (Baja) and Alta California as early as 1519. The Spanish initiated the ideas of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and ‘Doctrine of Discovery’, since they felt that their god had given them dominion over all living things, including newly discovered infidels. The ‘New World’ was given by the Spanish Pope Alexander VI to the Crown of Castile in 1493. Spanish conquest and colonization was under the jurisdiction of the Council of the Indies.

     Initially, an inadvertent probe along Florida’s western coast led Alonso Alvarez de Pineda along the gulf coast of Texas in 1519. In 1528 Cabeza de Vaca, a survivor from Narvaez’ expedition to Florida, shipwrecked along the Texas coast and walked back to Mexico. These fueled rumors of Indian empires with riches in unknown lands to the west. The viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, sent a priest Fr. Marcos de Niza by land into New Mexico. He claimed to have found the famed ‘Seven Cities of Cibola’ that were he reputed to have more riches than Mexico and Peru. The viceroy then sent Francisco Vazquez de Coronado on a major expedition. He and his men split into three probes from New Mexico, one toward California, one toward the Grand Canyon and one he led all the way into Kansas. No wealth came out of these, but he did report that he saw ‘shaggy cattle’ as far as the eye could see on the Great Plains- no doubt the American Bison. The viceroy, Mendoza sent another explorer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo on three ships up the Baja and Alta California coastline. They ‘discovered’ many harbors in upper California including San Miguel (later called San Diego), but Cabrillo died of an injury, probably on Santa Catalina Island and they never found gold or wealth. The most important contribution was to expand European maps and provide navigational guidance for future settlement.

    It was not until 1598 that Juan de Onate led into New Mexico a group of soldiers and their families intent on colonization. They settled along the Rio Grande River at today’s El Paso, TX and Santa Fe, NM, where Onate set up his headquarters. Coronado and subsequent expeditions were harsh to any Indians that did not cooperate, which usually meant providing food. This continued when the people at Acoma Pueblo refused requisitions and attacked Spanish soldiers, killing eleven. Onate retaliated with a force that went up into the Acoma Pueblo (nicknamed Sky City) and killed 500 men and 300 women by pushing most off the 350’ cliff. He took the rest captive and tried the men. Men 12-25 were sentenced to 20 years in servitude and men 25+ had one foot cut off in public. As the Spanish colonial empire grew its system of missions, pueblos, and presidios also grew. Indians were expected to provide goods and services to the Spanish. This system was called the encomienda and was the economic mainstay of Spanish colonization. However, disease and Indian rebellion made it difficult to turn surplus or profit in the northern frontier. The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest from Taos to Hopi grew fed up with the Spanish subjugation. The Indians did not understand the contradictions of the teachings of Jesus in contrast to cruel and hateful behavior of Europeans. By 1680 Pueblo people had been reduced by more than half. Pueblo leaders asked the mission priests to leave. Finally, on August 10, 1680, 24 Pueblos rebelled and drove the Spanish out of New Mexico into Texas. The Spanish came back for revenge and a smaller revolt again occurred in 1696. The end result was devastating for the Pueblo people but the Spanish priests did not totally eradicate traditional religion. The Hopi villages and the Zuni villages did not allow missions to be built in their villages again.

     During all of these early colonial events in the Southwest, California was virtually ignored albeit ships of the Manila Galleons sailing along the coast as a navigational tool. Carlos III of Spain decided that threats from Russian, French and English fur interests were too much in his northern frontiers and decided to expand into Louisiana and California to gain a more substantial foothold. In 1769 a multi party land and sea expedition went into California establishing a mission in San Diego and in 1770 at San Carlos (Carmel). The expedition was commanded by Gaspar de Portola with a contingency of Franciscans led by Fray Junipero Serra. Fray Serra and his protégé Fray Lausen established 21 missions from San Diego 1769 to San Rafael 1821. The Russians did succeed in establishing Ft. Ross on Bodega Bay just north of San Francisco, but went no further. The Russians were moving in on the lucrative sea otter trade that had expanded well into Southern California. Eventually, the sea otter was almost extinct by the late 19th century.

     From 1600 on the English and the French fought over control of the Eastern United States and Canada. The French explored the Mississippi River (Champaign 1633, Jolliet & Marquette 1673, LaSalle 1677) to form a wedge between the Spanish and English and effectively flank the English from the West. The French established New Orleans in 1718 and St. Louis in 1764. The French actually drove east and as far as Ft. Duquesne (Ft. Pitt) but were eventually defeated in the French and Indian Wars 1756-1763 (also called the Seven Years War). French fur traders and priests had made their way into the Great Plains so that people like the Sioux and Osages were using French words or French names, such as parfleche, coup, travois, etc. or tribal names like Sioux or Gros Venture. Finally, after the America Revolution the United States began to think about the American West. The English had really only explored the Pacific Northwest with the likes of Capt Cook, who visited the Nootka on Vancouver Island.

     As the American Republic expanded and more immigrants demanded new land since the soil in old farms was overtaxed with cash crops like tobacco, various schemes to expand the frontier were put into motion. With the colonial and post colonial wars, pension compensation was often made with frontier lands, in lieu of money. Most often this was in the form of Indian owned land and so the frontier folk had to adopt rather aggressive methods to fight for their new land. Most of these frontier families were Scotch- Irish, Welsh, German and Irish immigrants. These were those that developed the independent fervor and rejected interference from government authority. Thomas Jefferson had been an architect of a number of schemes in the East, but in 1803 he pulled off his biggest land scheme, the Louisiana Purchase. Not only was this for land expansion (nobody knew if the land was arable at the time), but Jefferson was concerned about fur trade expansion by the British fur companies. Jefferson also was still seeking a Northwest Passage to Asia. Further, Thomas Jefferson was a man of enlightenment and saw the ‘Voyage of Discovery’ (1804-06) by two of his Virginia friends, Lewis and Clark, as a scientific expedition. The Lewis and Clark expedition failed at finding a Northwest Passage, but it really provided considerable information about the American West all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

C. American Government Invades the American West 1840-1890

     After Lewis and Clark's Expedition had opened the Trans-Mississippi West, the United States government continued to add land throughout the 1800s in the American West. Most of the land was acquired through purchase, treaties, and spurious annexations. Texas was added in 1845. After the Mexican- American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo effectively added 1.2 million square miles of land in New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and California. Later, the Gadsden Purchase added the lower half of New Mexico (including todays Arizona portion). In 1846 Great Britain ceded  the Oregon Country to the U.S. and Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867. Native Americans continued to loose claimed land within these acquisitions with or without treaties. 

     As the U.S. acquired land it sent out exploratory survey parties to map the land based on longitude and latitude with grid baselines enclosing sections (36 sq. mi.) broken down into townships (6 sq. mi.). Who then got the land ? The government tried to cater to capitalist interests and individual settlers. They really needed both to settle the American West and to keep their political machine going.  Many laws were enacted to handle the entanglements often with confusion and conflict. Squatters, railroads, territorial or state governments and other corporate speculators all joined in. Since fences were next to impossible to construct as was traditionally was done in the East, all  land 'management' in the West had to deal with open range. This confusion and conflict was a one of the  themes of the 'real 'West' and  many Western genre of films.

Year Act Provisions
1841 Preemption Act Squatter's rights @ $1.25 / acre
1862 Homestead Act 160 acres (free) with 5yr occupation or build requirement/ ; later shorter occupation and 640 acres
1878 Timber  and Stone Act 160 acre parcels @ $ 2.50/ acre; land unfit for farming
1877 Desert Land Act 640 acres @ $1.25/acre; needed to irrigate in 3 yrs.

      Before the Civil War most settlers launched from St. Louis, MO  went West on the various trails initially to Oregon's Willamette Valley and California's Central Valley and Gold Fields in the Sierras.  The wagon trains used many animals to pull wagons and do the work. Horses, mules and oxen had all been brought to America were essential to the settling the West. In 1858 the Butterfield Stage Line opened which provided additional transportation and communication.

Trail  Years Route
Oregon Trail 1836-1868 St. Joseph, MO to Willamette V., OR; 2000 mi
Immigrant Trail 1840-1867 parallel to Oregon Trail split to Washington Terr.
Mormon Trail 1846- Nauvoo, IL to Salt Lake City, UT
California Trail 1840-1869 split off Oregon Trail at FT. Hall to California Sierra's eastern slope
Bozeman Trail 1863-68; 1876-1880s split off Oregon Trail  at Ft. Laramie, WY to Virginia City, MT
Santa Fe Trail 1821- 1880 MO to Santa Fe, NM
Ft. Smith-Santa Fe Trail (Arkansas Route) 1848/1857 Ft. Smith, AR- Albuquerque, NM-Ft. Mohave & Los Angeles, CA
Southern Overland Trail (Butterfield Route) 1848- Ft. Smith, AR to California (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco)
Old Spanish Trail 1790- Santa Fe, NM-Los Angeles, CA

     After the Civil War (1861-65), settlers and speculators were desperate enough to settle the Great Plains. The bison herds that had once numbered 30 million plus were reduced to 1,091 by 1889. Some of the wholesale slaughter was economic but was also a military strategy to deprive Plains Indian cultures from their food and economic livelihood. After the Civil War the slaughter reached greater proportions, reputedly 20,000 per month. Also, the cattle industry bolstered after the Civil War and the Chisholm Trail opened from Texas to Kansas. The Transcontinental Railroad opened up the American West's desert and mountain regions to both coasts. Since the cattle industry was booming a series of range wars broke out in Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana. The most famous of these were the Red River Wars and the Lincoln County War of New Mexico, that involved the legendary outlaw, Billy the Kid.

     Americans had shifted their food habits in the 1840s from pork and chicken to beef. Beef became a symbol the 'down to earth' American, rather than elitist food from Europe. In fact American beef even expanded to the European export market. Initially the Longhorn and wild Criollos cattle were well adapted to survive in desert environments. But later, Eastern demands for marbled beef stimulated practice of using hybrid cattle, usually  Hereford and Shorthorn cattle. Longhaired Scottish cattle were interbred in the High Plains to deal with the severe winters. After the Civil War, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving founded various markets for their beef. Later, Jesse Chisholm  (Cherokee Texan) opened the Chisholm Trail up into Abilene, KS for rail connections to the East. In 1882 Gustav Swift developed refrigeration. Eventually, Chicago packing corporations (Swift, Armour, etc.) developed monopolies to control the market. Also, some of the ranches became huge with vast land holdings such as the XIT ranch in Texas. However, the cattle industry would suffer down turns especially with terrible droughts and blizzards in the 1880s. In effect this opened up alternative crop farming in the Great Plains. Between 1880-1920 steam and gasoline threshers and tractors replaced the draft animals. Hay, barley, oats and wheat began to be used for non-feed markets. In the late 1890s into the 1920s sheep also became a replacement for the cattle industry, especially in New Mexico and Nevada.

     By the end of the 19th century a number of changes had occurred in the American West. As already noted the U.S. Census declared the frontier line closed. In 1890 the Plains Indian world came to a horrific end with the massacre of 300 men women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, SD. The world of the cowboy was coming to an end. This is often seen as the end of the 'Old West' ; between 1890-1910. Many wealthy men from the East (City Slickers) relished the ideals of the 'Old West' and established hunting groups like the Boone and Crockett Club. They would pay big money to go out West to shoot record size game for sport. Many outdoor organizations were also formed at the turn of the century like the Sierra Club and Campfire Girls. As the 'Old West' was disappearing there became a greater need to preserve and recreate nostalgic versions of the lifestyle.

D. Exploitation and Expansion 1890-

     The displacement of the American Indian continued with the Allotment Act of 1880 (sometimes referred to as the Dawes Act), but was implemented numerous times into the 20th century as non Indians coveted Indian reservation lands. America industrialized and so the demand for resources exploded at the turn of the 20th century. By 1900, 90% of America's  forests have been cut down and 90 % of American Indians were gone. A wilderness crisis emerged with the conservation movement that began with the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, which began to set aside public forests. John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1893. In 1902 Theodore Roosevelt got the Newland Reclamation Act passed. This eventually allowed for the massive dam projects during the depression, such as Hoover Dam, Grand Coulee Dam , Shasta Dam and Glen Canyon Dam. The 1906 Antiquities Act allowed  Roosevelt to create National Monuments like the Grand Canyon and Devils Tower. Later, some like the Grand Canyon became National Parks. The conservation movement helped to preserve some of the American West but other changes brought even more ambitious capitalist expansion into the West. All of these changes with the government  assumed that science and government new best how to manage land and people. This is usually referred to as the Progressive Movement. Use of private and public land was the most contentious in the American West, because there was so much of it. Development and business needed access to public land and the Dept. of Interior, especially National Forest System (NFS) allowed for multiuse exploitation of public land without tax burdens. To put this in other terms business exploited and still exploits our land. Private companies take our water, mineral, and timber and sell it back to us for profit. This of course happened earlier with the railroads.

 In 1901 oil was discovered in Texas as the automobile made inroads into replacing the horse. Henry Ford began his company in 1903. West coast developers expanded water resources just in time for the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914. In 1913 William Mulholland  finished the Los Angeles Aqueduct to bring Owens Valley water to LA and the Riker Act was passed to dam Hetch Hetchy Valley. in Yosemite National Park . The new Panama Canal made West coast seaports closer to the world's new sea lanes. Battles between conservationists and developers/recreation advocates continued into the 20th century such as the Echo Park Dam proposal and the Glen Canyon Dam project in 1948-56. In the 1960s another reclamation project within Grand Canyon National Park was defeated due to public outcry.

The American West continues to provoke controversy that involves idealization of that Old West of the 19th century vs the New West of the 20th and now 21st century. It is difficult to set an ideal of what to preserve and protect.

E. Identity In the American West

     American identity is based on a number of factors such as culture (ethnic background), gender, region and overall historical context. The term race is an unfortunate social term with no scientific basis. Religion is part of culture, but is not an ethnicity. In the American West all but American Indians were recent immigrants bringing their cultural identities to the changing frontier. These immigrants were European Americans, African Americans, and Asian/Pacific Island Americans. However, many terms were used over the years that reveals the specific perspective of a given identity from different points of view. Even an occupation/lifestyle can become an identity, such as sodbusters for farmers. With so many newcomers pouring into the American West the region and time in an area became an identity, such as newcomers being referred to as 'greenhorns'. The concept of 'melting pot' was used for years and has been shown to be over simplistic. Some immigrants set up towns literally transported en masse from Europe to the Kansas prairies and can even be found today. In other cases certain immigrants tried to blend into the new culture. Each culture had to adapt to the American West but also brought their own contribution to the mix. Food and music have pretty good staying power even when language or clothing  became common.

     American Indians had a spiritual connection to the land that others did not have. The ancestors were buried in this land. Therefore, space or place was more sacred to American Indians than time. The sacredness of the land and living things was based on difference or special characteristics. An herb used for medicine or an animal having special attributes. This was more complicated than most would ever understand. Bear was admired for its tenacious fighting ability but also for its ability to find healing plants. Individuality, sharing, respect for elders, freedom of religious beliefs, and respect for the land and ecology were influences from American Indians that were not well understood or recognized. Denigration was so severe that Luther Standing Bear had to prove himself a person in court in 1879. The reservation system served as a form of segregation, genocide and theft of land and resources. Standing Bear in turn gave a speech in Boston which influenced a young author, Helen Hunt Jackson to campaign to improve conditions on reservations, especially in California. Jackson wrote a book called A Century of Dishonor in 1881 to garner support for reform. It took her novel, Ramona (1884), to gain some attention. Although this fictionalized story was rather romanticized it's pageant version is still drawing crowds in Hemet, California.  She actually wrote most of her novel at Guajome Ranch near Oceanside, California. Some reforms were made for California Indians and some abandoned groups in California had reservations reinstated. In recent years sovereignty, religious freedom and the protection of cultural resources have improved due to new laws and money from gaming.                                

     Hispanic people were some of the first Europeans in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California. Ethnic terms are complex but generally peninsulares (born in the Iberian pennisula), criollos (Spanish born in the Americas), mestizo (Spanish/Indian) and Indios (Indian) were the primary categories. Early pre-Mexico Hispanics in Texas were tejanos or in New Mexico were ricos and in California were californios. Later, once Mexico broke away from Spain in 1821 new Hispanic people migrated into the American West. Of course there were Hispanic people from other areas of Latin America, thus terms like Latino is used. Although integration and tolerance was very mixed, the influence of these cultures again is more than the general public recognizes. The entire Western cowboy (vaquero) culture is of Hispanic origins. Today, borderlands issues remain tense in the West. The original Bracero Program 1942-1964 was designed to bring manual laborers from Mexico because of WWII. However, the need for cheap labor became an advantage and an economic crutch, thus today's continued demand for cheap labor

     African Americans were mostly forced immigrants to America, but a small number of freedmen and ex-slaves came West. The reception was mostly negative, especially in Texas. In some cases to escape prejudice African Americans settled whole communities like some Europeans especially in Kansas. One such community in California was called Allensworth and was established 1908 in the Central Valley. Surrounding communities cut off their economic trade and water, resulting in abandonment. Cities provided some refuge throughout the West. One of the most famous African American experiences were post Civil War all black military units, especially the 9th and 10th Cavalry units that served in Indian Wars. American Indians sometimes referred to these units as 'Buffalo Soldiers' because their hair was similar to the American Bison. However, they too received harsh treatment especially in Texas. Some African Americans found better reception in Oklahoma or Indian Territory especially among the Cherokee, Creeks and Seminole. As a result a number of famous African Americans have considerable America Indian heritage such as the great singer Pearl Bailey. However, it has recently been shown the the family stories about American Indian 'princesses' among European and African Americans are often romantic fiction. There were also a number of African American cowboys active in the American West and they have been unrecognized along with many American Indian cowboys. The most famous African American cowboy was Bill Pickett (1870-1932), who was a great bulldogger and was in a number of Wild West shows. In 1932 he was kicked in the head by a bronco and died. Bill Pickett was inducted into the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1972 and was honored on a USPS commemorative stamp. The cowboy tradition also spread beyond the American West to places like Hawaii.  Captain George Vancouver brought cattle to Hawaii in 1792 as a gift to King Kamehameha I and by 1812 Hawaiian cowboys,  Paniolo, were running cattle on the Big Island ranches.

     Since the Far Western coastline is part of the Pacific Rim, it is not surprising that there was continuous migration of Asian/ Pacific Islander Americans especially into the Pacific Coastal areas. Many came to provide labor on ships, mining and railroad construction. As with other immigrants mostly men came first. Chinese, Filipino and Japanese in various waves and then when not needed exclusion acts or force was used to remove established communities. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924 were major attempts to cut off or limit immigration. In WWII the Japanese, even citizens, were rounded up and sent to internment camps. Much of this was exploited to grab land and property by non-Japanese. Many other Asian Americans came after the Korean War and Vietnam War to escape an unresolved conflict and persecution.

     Many different ethnic groups some with specific churches unique to that group settled in the American West.  Some groups expanded from the East due to persecution, economics, crowded conditions or promise of greater riches. Some groups left their homeland and went directly to a settlement on the Western Plains. In the 1820's the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) started in upstate New York moved west to Illinois where their leader Smith was killed. They were forced West and settled in Utah under Brigham Young. They sent recruiters (missionaries) to England and new converts poured in via New Orleans, up the Mississippi and then to Utah. In the 1840's the Mormon Battalion made overtures to expand settlement in the Southwest and California. In 1845 a group of Germans under Prince Solms established the town of New Braunfels, Texas even with its own newspaper (Herald-Zeitung). Basques, from the Pyreenes of Spain and France began coming to the Great Basin (Idaho, Nevada, California) after the 1830s to herd sheep. This migration reached peaks in the 1870s and 1880s. Like many immigrants the Basque community has spread into many walks of life.

Another identity besides ethnicity or religion is gender. Women migrated West most often as wives and mothers, especially after 1840 with the Oregon Trail and its  branches. This was especially hard with trying to have children and raise a family. Mortality rates were high for mothers and children. However, women came West in other capacities and often disguised themselves as men to have better a chance. One of the most famous was one "Calamity Jane" (Martha  Jane Canary).

Some were entrepreneurs like Margaret (Molly) Brown (nee Tobin)  (1867-1932) who was born of Irish parents, poor, in Hannibal, Missouri. At 18 she made her way West to Leadville, Colorado. She married J.J. Brown and had two children, but also they became wealthy in mining and moved to Denver. Mrs. Brown was quite the socialite and was involved in the women's suffrage movement, the arts and even ran for the U.S. Senate. Although separated she and her husband maintained a relationship. She also retained money, investments and the house. 'Molly' Brown became most famous when she sailed on the Titanic in 1912 and survived the sinking. Most famous was her cool in Lifeboat No. 6 and insisting in going back to rescue other passengers. This led to her greatest fame as the 'Unsinkable Molly Brown'.

 Annie Oakley (Phoebe Ann Mosey) combined an image of diminutive 4'11", innocent and feminine with the most manly of destructive skills,  guns. She was a true sharpshooter, out of survival for her family, and was better than men including her husband and Buffalo Bill. She became Buffalo Bill's top star and all her advocated that women should be able to bear arms and shoot. Many women survived and flourished in the American West, but the most important aspect is that women helped organize and civilize the Western frontier, especially in terms of education, equality and law.

There are a myriad of identities in the American West, that all contribute to the American character and success. However, it must be remembered that the prejudice and intolerance was based on difference. Depending on the historical context the dominant norm varied, but generally was male European American and Protestant. Sometimes vocation was an added factor such as cattlemen, sheepherders, sodbusters, or merchants. Certain skills were in such great demand, such as a blacksmith that other differences were often ignored. Unfortunately, lack of tolerance was more the rule and these themes coupled with hardship, jealousy and greed made endless components to Western literature and film. Add very little law enforcement to the mix and it is clear why the genre was so successful.

 

Next: III. Creating Images

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Copyright © by S.J. Crouthamel 2014